Barima salvage and COI

Oct 09, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – It is two months since the MV Barima Commission of Inquiry (COI) was sworn in. It is almost two and a half months, since the boat itself capsized and blanketed Guyana in a horror that citizens are still trying to get an understanding. A crucial part of the work of the COI is related to the salvaging of the sunken boat and its cargo of dead, along with what other cargo it was carrying. In the manner of the COI, the salvaging process seems to be stuck at a standstill. When it did come to life with an award, Guyanese spirits died again.

President Irfaan Ali was his usual reassuring self. “The technical people are re-evaluating those bids so that the company can be selected to do the salvaging”, was what he shared during a meeting with the New York-based Guyana diaspora. Whatever “the technical people” were doing, they were taking too long, almost as if they have orders to drag their feet, been given official cover to take their time. Take as long as they can stretch their evaluation and re-evaluation out. This is record of the PPPC Government, now its own worst enemy, i.e., a group that cannot be trusted. Leadership promises have been made before; comforting words uttered at high levels. The outcomes have generally been opposite to what was promised, with that almost guaranteed to happen. Now there is the tender process for the salvaging of the MV Barima that has gone on too long. With each passing day, and nothing concluded relative to the salvaging, suspicions intensify that the government is up to no good. Again, the PPPC Government only has itself to blame, and now there is the salvage award.